French unions yesterday played what could be their last card in the long battle against the pension reform, which has been in force for four months. The demonstrations on May Day were much more numerous than in the last two years, but the goal of mass participation was not reached, not even by a long shot.
The independent agency Fig Data estimated the turnout on a national scale, at four in the afternoon, when all the marches were already close to the end, at a little more than 550,000 people, far from the million or a million and a half that the union leaders wanted. According to the police, there were 11,000 demonstrators in Marseille, 17,000 in Lyon, 13,500 in Toulouse, 24,000 in Rennes and 112,000 in Paris. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 782,000 people across France participated in May Day. The CGT union, always very optimistic, spoke of 2.3 million people. In any case, these are figures that are not spectacular if put in relation to the French population (68 million)
The frequent protests tire the citizens, including those who oppose the delay in the retirement age. Instead of demonstrating, the vast majority preferred to enjoy the day off with family and friends. In Paris, for example, the parks were full, with people having picnics on the grass until a heavy downpour fell, just to coincide with the start of the trade union march in Place de la République.
The scene is always the same. Total calm and normalcy in most cities, except for the areas reserved for demonstrations, where radical elements confront the police with great violence and cause destruction. The same thing happened yesterday. In the capital, a policeman was injured with serious burns when his unit was attacked by a Molotov cocktail. The fire burned the agent's clothes and it took his colleagues a few seconds to put it out.
Despite the fact that there was no vindictive tide and that it will be very difficult for the unions to keep the struggle alive in the coming weeks and months, Emmanuel Macron could not feel relieved. Social unrest is well present, occasional protest actions will continue and, above all, the political deadlock persists due to the absence of a Government majority in the National Assembly. The MPs of the New Popular Ecological and Social Unit (Nupes, a left dominated by radicals) intend to maintain an uncompromising attitude towards the Government, not giving in to anything and obstructing as much as possible, with all available means, initiatives that are not to their liking .
The leader of the extreme right, Marine Le Pen, gave a very aggressive speech against Macron, who blamed him for all the ills of the country. Le Pen, who spoke in the Norman city of Le Havre, accused the president of having dragged the country into "an institutional crisis" and a "political impasse". It was symptomatic that Le Pen chose Le Havre. With this he wanted to take care of his working-class electorate and, at the same time, made a gesture towards the presidential elections of 2027, since the mayor of the city is Édouard Philippe, former prime minister of Macron, founder of the center-right party Horizons and one of the potential candidates to succeed him in the Elysee four years from now.
The pension reform, already enacted by Macron, could only be revoked in the unlikely event that the Constitutional Council accepts a proposal to be able to collect signatures in order to call a referendum to set retirement at 62, and not at 64 The Constitutional Council must announce its decision this Wednesday. A first request was already rejected, but the second – raised by socialist, communist and environmentalist senators – has a different legal formulation. If it is accepted, 4.8 million signatures should be collected in nine months. The vote would be held in the summer of next year, almost coinciding with the Olympic Games in Paris.
